The Philippines' First All-Opinion Website

December 28, 2018

2018 WORDS OF THE YEAR

It’s the most wonderful time of the year once again for word lovers (aka logophile)! The word of the year is out for Oxford Dictionaries, Dictionary.com, Collins Dictionary, Cambridge Dictionary and Merriam-Webster.

Which word was the most used (and maybe abused, too) for 2018?

Toxic was named word of the year for Oxford Dictionaries. There was a 45% rise in the number of times it was looked up in their website. The runners up are gaslighting, incel, techlash, gammon, big dick energy, cakeism, overtourism, and orbiting.

Collins Dictionary chose single-use for this year as it has seen a four-fold increase since 2013. The runners up are VAR (video assistant referee), plogging, backstop, gammon, gaslight, MeToo, vegan, whitewash, and floss (yes, that dance move!)

Cambridge Dictionary’s asked fans to vote for the word that they believe sums up this year. The people word of the year for 2018 is nomophobia. I have to admit, I have this anxiety too. The other shortlist are gender gap, ecocide, and no-platforming.

Merriam-Webster’s word of the year is justice. A top lookup for 2018 in their website and was consulted 74% more than in 2017. They have 10 runners up and these words are nationalism, pansexual, lodestar, epiphany, feckless, laurel, pissant, respect, maverick, and excelsior.

Misinformation is the word of the year for Dictionary.com. It is often conflated with disinformation but they have different definitions. Misinformation means false information that is spread, regardless of whether there is intent to mislead while Disinformation is defined as deliberately misleading or biased information; manipulated narrative or facts; propaganda. Their difference comes down to the intent. Their runners up are representation, self-made, and backlash.

And I just recently discovered that even the Philippines has a salita ng taon! It is announced by Komisyon sa Wikang Filipino, Filipinas Institute of Translation, and University of the Philippines.

Tokhang is the word of the year for the Philippines. The runners up are Dengvaxia, DDS, dilawan, fake news, federalism, foodie, quo warranto, resibo, TRAIN and troll.

The words of the year (and the runners up too) definitely reflected what happened the past months around the world.

Here’s to wishing everyone a happy new year and a year full of happy days!

Related posts

Photo/s used in this post is/are covered under the Fair Use Exemption of the IP Code.

By posting a comment in the section provided, you hereby agree to:

You acknowledge that Manila Speak is only a platform for your views and opinions and those views and opinions of yours are not necessarily that of Manila Speak.

The comments section is a public forum and you will be considerate and respectful at all times.

You shall not post any defamatory utterances, profanity or vulgar language, anything that is obscene or abusive. You shall not post any false statements, harassing words or threaten a person’s safety or property.

You shall not, without consent, post any personal information such as but not limited to phone numbers and email or mailing addresses.

You shall not violate other’s intellectual property or proprietary rights.

Manila Speak may or may not review your post but it reserves the right to remove that same if such post may potentially violate the guidelines.

All Rights Reserved. No portion of this site may be republished without permission of the publisher.

Speak Your Mind

Where the Write Things Are is a creative writing center for kids, teens, and adults. If you love writing or need some inspiration to get to write, our writing class is the place to be. Check out our monthly writing classes and facebook.
Creative Writing Classes for Kids/Teens and Adults: